Entrance to Ro Wilson's Ecosystem Garden (c) Irma McVey
It’s time for our weekly visit to an Ecosystem Garden, showcasing the many ways you can help wildlife in your garden. If you would like to see your garden for wildlfie featured here, please read A Visit to YOUR Garden.
Many thanks to Irma McVey for submitting these beautiful photos for this Ecosystem Garden Showcase.
Milkweed Garden for Monarchs (c) Irma McVey
Ro Wilson is an artist, both in her creation of stunning ceramics and in her Cape May, NJ Ecosystem Garden. She purchased this former horse pasture in Cape May more than 20 years ago with the express intent of creating habitat for wildlife because so much habitat in Cape May was being destroyed. Kudos to her for her forward vision to begin this process long before it became fashionable in the gardening world.
PawPaw Tree (c) Irma McVey
Ro has a particular fondness for Zebra Swallowtail butterflies, which at this point, are not present in Cape May. But they are found in Delaware, a short hop across the Delaware Bay.
PawPaw Fruit (c) Irma McVey
Being an optimist, Ro has planted PawPaw trees (the host plant for the Zebra Swallowtail) around her garden, in hopes that one day soon, the Zebra Swallowtail will make the leap across the bay and find in her garden a welcoming habitat.
Wildflower Meadow (c) Irma McVey
One of the hallmarks of Ro’s Ecosystem Garden is the expansive meadow/former horsepasture. In order to keep succession at bay, this meadow is burned every year in the early spring. Otherwise, it would be overrun with rasperries, sweet gum, and black gum, among others, on a march to return this field to forest. Since grassland birds are in such danger of extinction due to loss of habitat, Ro prefers to keep this area as a meadow to support these endangered birds.
This property is very close to a Nature Conservancy preserve, the Hidden Valley Ranch, where many owls nest, and raptors, coyotes, skunks, opossums, and many other wildlife live. Many of these species hunt or feed in Ro’s meadow because she is providing food and habitat that welcomes these species.
Although Ro does on occasion add native plant plugs to her meadow, she is content to see what appears spontaneously, having been “planted” by the birds or a native plant from the seedbank in the soil that finally has the right conditions to germinate.
Nodding Ladies Tresses (c) Irma McVey
The spring was unusually rainy this year and a very welcome plant to arrive in the meadow is one of Ro’s favorite, Nodding Ladies Tresses. New also this year, the small pink-flowered Maryland Meadow Beauty. What an amazing thing when a volunteer to the garden is such a welcome treasure!
Tropical Milkweed with Monarch Caterpillar (c) Irma McVey
This garden is filled with milkweed to provide hosts for Monarch butterflies. Ro loves this particular insect and plants every species of aesclepias that she finds that will survive the conditions in her garden. These include swamp milkweed, common milkweed, butterfly weed, and tropical milkweed, from which Ro diligently collects seed every year because this plant is an annual in Cape May.
Red Chokecherry (c) Irma McVey
Ro has a wide variety of fruiting/berrying shrubs and trees to feed wildlife from her Ecosystem Garden, including one of her favorites, the Red Chokecherry and Eastern Red Cedar. Many birds feast on these fruits, which Ro has planted specifically to support them.
Invasive Porcelain Berry (c) Irma McVey
Some advice from Ro for wildlife gardeners: be vigilant about removing invasive plants or your garden will be swallowed up by these nasties. In Cape May, the bane of every gardener is the highly invasive Porcelain Berry, which will over run roadside edges, gardens, open space, and is prevalent in every protected space in Cape May. Ro fights an ongoing constant battle in her attempts to keep this plant from swallowing her garden.
Ro had done an amazing job, don’t you think? Please leave any questions or comments in the fields below. And next week, we’d love to see YOUR Garden in this showcase. Please contact me for details by clicking the “contact” tab above.
© 2009, Carole Sevilla Brown. All rights reserved. This article is the property of EcosystemGardening.com If you are reading this at another site, please report that to us
About Carole Sevilla Brown
I love the wildflower meadow. I hope Ro gets some Zebra Swallowtails soon. Swallowtails are fabulous
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Ro’s entire garden is magnificent, but I loved the meadow the most! If anyone gets the Zebra Swallowtails, it will be Ro!
As lovely as ever — my fave post of yours. I love the garden tours. Bring on the zebra swallowtails!
Bethe @balmeras
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The Master Gardeners of Mercer County visited Ro’s garden and meadow October 1, 2009. The visit was facilitated by Teresa Knipper our butterfly field trip leader. We spent time in a little piece of heaven thanks to Ro. It was so much fun and educational. This is a field trip we will not forget. Summer 2009 was cool and rainy. We were butterfly deprived. Our trip to Cape May made up for our deprivation. Thank you for this beautiful article.
Ro has true gardener’s patience, letting volunteers in and allowing her garden to define what it will look like each year. She makes it look easy but we all know that there is always weeding to do and keeping the invasives out would try the patience of a saint. Trowels up for Ro and her lovely work. (Can’t take our hats off – it is still sunny out.)
Ro’s garden in definitely amazing, from the whimsical ceramic art scattered through the garden, to the wonderful meadow, to the peaceful quiet in the middle of so much development. Thanks to all you NJ gardeners for sharing their experiences when visiting Ro’s garden. It truly is a treasure.
What a joy to get a peek into your beautiful garden, Ro. I remember being there several years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Hope you get some zebra swallowtails soon. Hope to see you soon. Carol
Rosemary’s gardens have been a source of fascination and inspiration to me for many years. Mention must be made of Ro’s husband Larry who helped Ro in the gardens tirelessly until he became too ill to continue. He was very proud of Ro’s accomplishments. Larry died not long ago.